


Sleeping Titan

by OldSpiceWithTheDice



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 21:18:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14819060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldSpiceWithTheDice/pseuds/OldSpiceWithTheDice
Summary: In lands that once slept peacefully at night, ancient steel gods impervious to magic have risen from the earth, called Golems by their subjects, and their ripples of fear have spread across the world. Two thousand years, several genocides and an immortal Empire later, the Golems are still alive, and a young elf ends up on a journey that will change their fate forever.





	1. Sleeping Titan: Prologue

Koro's greatest regret was that he tried to find a better life.

The dwarf had spent so many years certain that if he could just find some way to the island nation of Perechain, the last place his people could call home then maybe, just _maybe_ he might be freed from the shackles of working for some greasy elves in some stony city. But that dream was impossible for any dwarf who had ancestors foolish enough to stay on the continent, and he finally knew why no-one who tried to reach the island came back.

Because as Koro ran from the slim channel that separated him from a life of freedom, he felt the ground underneath him stammer as the steely weight of a Golem crushed it underfoot.

Koro shot his small, dark eyes back at the heaving, clanking beast behind him. He had never seen one up close before, and when the beasts were painted eating criminals they were all different, but they all had three things in common: they constantly were shrouded in clouds and clouds of steam, they had great iron limbs that stretched even beyond the barrier of mist, and they were very, very big. And now, looking back at this rolling mist with arms that crushed ancient trees like thin and young twigs, Koro finally understood why the elves worshipped these things in those locked-up cities of theirs.

When Koro's legs buckled under the weight of his own fear fell while the Golem kept rolling towards him, he saw a metallic arm reaching out to him from behind the fog. He turned to it, closed his eyes, and began to pray to the metal god for mercy. As the arm approached him, he went from praying silently to praying out loud to screaming terrified pleas to be spared. He hadn't even believed that they were real before, but the elves seemed fine in their cities as long as they prayed to the Golems, so they must have mercy, right?

But when a scalding, metal hand grabbed him, and he felt his own flesh burn away as he was dragged deeper and deeper into the fog, he knew that the mercy of the Golem had run dry. Completely desperate, he summoned what little magic he had left, and in his hand manifested a blade that glowed green with overwhelming heat, but as he swung it against the massive hand only a single, silent ember floated lightly from the iron finger. No miracle could change the fact that magic could not affect any machine. The last thing the dwarf saw was the hollow steel of the jaw of a deity, and the void that lay inside it.

* * *

Haerin's eyes were locked in shock on the yellowed out page of the book he had found behind five locked doors in his own home. The young elf knew it was trouble from the moment he laid eyes on it (after all, only a halfling book would be bound _by hand_ rather than by magic), but the ink-black words in the tome were far more dangerous than the handmade leather cover. This was the story of a dwarf, travelling from the slums of an elven city to the shores of Khalas, almost tasting the free dwarven land of Perechain, only to be consumed by a Golem. The Golem wasn't merciful to the young fool, but seemed void of emotion, completely different to the powerful sentinels of justice that destroyed those who committed sins against The Emperor. It wasn't just a tale of a dwarf committing treason and trying to escape his home, it was a tale of heresy. Just touching this meant he was practically already in the belly of a vindictive god. Even worse, he found himself _enjoying_ these heretic's ravings, eating them up like a cultist delighting in his shadowy rites.

Haerin finally tore his eyes away from the dark manuscript. It was too dangerous to leave it in his house, but he couldn't bring himself to destroy it. Trying to ditch it somewhere far away wouldn't work either, he'd had old friends leaving such dark tales in the furthest wastelands of the Southern Wilds and _still_ being fed to the Golems. There was only a single final solution, and no matter how foolhardy and futile it might be, it was the only microscopic chance at survival he had.

He resolved to run far, far away from the Empire, not to the mad, elven south, but to the north, to Perechain.


	2. Sleeping Titan Act I, Chapter I: Forbidden Knowledge

A guard stood behind Haerin as he stood behind the single worst man in the world. Aganheian, who called himself Haerin's father, sat before him cross-legged behind the steel bars of a jail cell. The air hung between the pair like a condemned body swinging limply on a rope. As Haerin locked his eyes with the man, he noticed what years behind stone walls did to a man. His skin was thinly stretched across a skeletal figure covered in dirty rags. His hair had grown long and wispy, his face was sallow and papery, and he could only be described as a shadow of his former self. But he still carried that eternal grin with him him, the one that made you realise he knew what you were thinking and was mocking you for it, that made Haerin want to punch him so badly.

"It's about time you showed up," the man rasped. Heiran clenched his jaw. _Don't act as if we're best friends, old man._

"I'm not here to chat, Aganheian, I'm here to tell you that you've ruined my life and I hope you get fed to a Golem."

"You're not meant to call your own father by your first name."

"I have no father," Haerin shot back. "I've only got some pisshead who gambled away his wife, killed a man because he was bitter over losing and ended up in jail."

Aganheian shrugged. "I'm not dead, though. Do you know what happened to the rest of our family? They were all just as bad as me, but they all got caught doing heinous crimes against the Emperor's will and were executed immediately, while I still have a few months until that. So in a way, doesn't that mean I-"

Haerin, who was sick and tired of hearing excuses from this disgusting waste, suddenly shot his arm through the metal bars and grabbed Aganheian by his ragged shirt, yanking the skeleton of an elf closer. "Listen closely," Haerin whispered into his ears. "I found a dangerous book in our house. I came here because I need to flee to Perechain, or else I'm dead. You're helping me."

Aganheian replied with a voice softer than silk, but rougher than coal. "What's in it for me?"

Haerin began to smile. He took his hand off of Aganheian's rags and instead wrapped it around his throat. Aganheian chuckled. "You're not going to kill me, are you? I'm condemned to judgement by the Golems. Killing me means you'll be taking its meal, so you'll have to take my place instead. Can't have 'em going hungry, you know."

"That book," Haerin whispered again, "had forbidden knowledge. _Dwarven_ knowledge. Are you feeling it yet?"

Aganheian's grin slowly began to vanish. "Haerin," he said shakily, "please don't do this."

"I can stop at any time I want, but I'm just waiting for you to..."

"Haerin, please don't take away my magic." Tears began welling up in his eyes.

Haerin tutted. "You know what happens to those who survive a Golem, don't you? They almost never have their magic anymore. Instead of dying quickly, they slowly succumb to attack by a thousand different diseases. Every heartbeat feels like needles are being pumped through your veins. You go mad from being unable to sleep because of the constant pain, and after a year of torment you finally turn into dust. I'd love to inflict that fate onto you, but there's something I asked for..."

"There's a halfling here who calls himself Temujin. He's a walking freak, you can't miss him. He got himself in jail but he's only got a month sentence for carrying a sword without a permit. He's a traveller, not especially smart, but if you bust him out no-one will notice. He can help you." He confessed with such fear in his trembling, wailing voice, than Haerin knew for certain that he was too scared to lie.

Haerin took away his hand. "There it is. I'll be merciful."

Aganheian rubbed his neck, sighing in relief as he did so. "Magic absorption, huh? Dwarves really are barbarians."

"Haha," Haerin said loudly. "You're an illiterate piece of shit."

Aganheian had a look Haerin had never seen on him before. He looked _surprised_. "What do you mean?"

"If you had spent any time in school, you would know that magic absorption is physically impossible. Magic only enters your body through food and water."

"Then how were you taking my-"

"I wasn't, idiot. Dwarves invented deception magic. That was what was in the book. I never hurt you, I merely tricked you."

"I still don't-"

"Of _course_ you don't get it. I got my smarts from mother, not you. Let me make it clear." Haerin grabbed Aganheian's chin and turned his head towards him. He spoke like he was talking to a child. "I created a sensation in your neck that felt like magic was leaving you, when it never actually was. Do you get it now?"

Aganheian, who had been in shock and fear up until now, suddenly began to laugh to Haerin's surprise. "You really didn't get your smarts from me," he said. "But you know what you did get from me?"

Haerin raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You're an unbelievable asshole. I'm proud of you, kid."

Haerin shoved Aganheian away from him, causing him to crash into the wall behind him. "I'm no asshole compared to the man who got his wife in the whorehouse because he can't hide his tells for shit."

Aganheian simply rose up from the floor, smiling, and said once again, "I'm proud of you."

And so, to keep himself from killing his own father, Haerin turned his collar away from him and to the guard, who he saw had been sleeping against the wall the entire encounter between them. Haerin quietly crept past the guard, leaving his father behind him, and went for the one person who could help him. Temujin.

* * *

_Where the hell is he?_

Haerin had been wandering around the prison for at least an hour at this point, ducking behind walls for cover from guards every other turn. He was sick and tired of it, and he still hadn't caught a glimpse of the halfling Aganheian was talking about, Temujin. To be honest, he hadn't even told him anything about the halfling apart from that he's a travelling freak who carries a sword. What kind of barbarian would you have to be to carry a sword around with you? He was about to give up, until-

_Oh. So that's the freak._

Haerin had just caught the eye of a man, the size of a tall halfling (shorter than an elf, but taller than a dwarf), wearing strange clothes and a strange face. He wore short boots that only went up to the ankle, trousers with a red stripe that went down each leg, an odd red garment that looked thicker than a shirt and went all the way up to his neck with a white belt as fastening and a sharp, hard face that glared him right in the eye. His hair wasn't brown like a dwarf's or blond like an elf's, but a jet black colour Haerin had never imagined was possible on hair to begin with. His gaze was drilling into Haerin's resolve like a general drills his troops, and his large body only added to the feeling that Haerin was being judged. Halflings were meant to be half elf, half dwarf, but he didn't look like either. He looked like something else entirely, from a different place and a different time, but he had to be halfling - what else would he be? This was undoubtedly Temujin. Quite frankly, a freak.

Haerin carefully walked towards the man, trying not to offend him as he met his steely grey eyes. As he approached, Temujin raised an eyebrow.

"What do you want?" Temujin asked. He spoke with a rough and coarse voice, alongside an equally rough and coarse accent that Haerin had never heard of before.

Haerin leaned towards the bars. "I've got a proposition for you. I can bust you out of here, but in return I need you to help me out."

Temujin's hard face softened a little. "Alright, I'm interested, but what do you need?"

"I've recently gotten possession of a rather dangerous book. I don't want to destroy it and the only place I can dispose of it is on Perechain. I need you to help me get there, traveller."

Temujin's face went blank. "You're going to have to tell me a little more about Perechain."

"What do you need to know?" Haerin asked, perplexed.

"Where exactly is it and how far away is it?"

Oh. _Oh._ It seemed to Haerin that this Temujin was no ordinary traveller. He was a wanderer, a traveller without any real clue of where he was going. This might be a problem for navigation, however...

"Oh, it's an island that's not too far away from here." _If you define not too far away as on the other side of the continent._

Temujin shrugged. "I don't see any reason as to not, I suppose. What's your name?"

"Call me Haerin."

"Well, Haerin," Temujin said, stretching out a palm to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Haerin raised an eyebrow. This freak seemed to be insane as well, handing his hand over to Haerin for no apparent reason. "What are you doing?"

"Um..." Temujin looked hard at his hand. "I don't actually know. I just did it." He pulled his hand back. "Anyways, what's the plan for getting me out?"

"You use a sword, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do."

Haerin grinned. "Then you might as well already be free."


	3. Sleeping Titan Act I, Chapter II: Only One Thing

Getting the sword back was meant to be child's play. Haerin would simply stalk the oblivious head guard into his chancery, stay hidden behind a corner until he left, dash into the room and begin rummaging around to find the elusive blade. Unfortunately for him, things weren't as simple as he planned them out to be.

It started off alright; Haerin managed to follow the head guard without being caught, silently creeping behind the towering armoured elf as he did so. He tailed him all the way to the prison's chancery, where he hid behind one of the corners of the winding, thin halls of the prison. He even managed to dash into the room after the head guard left. But that was when things began to go awry, because the moment Haerin found Temujin's sword in a chest of contraband on the floor of the chancery, he heard a voice behind him.

"You seriously didn't think I wouldn't be able to notice you, child?" It was the gruff voice of a battle-hardened soldier. The head guard.

Haerin slowly turned around to find him standing in the doorway, a cocky grin on his face. _Shit._

"I won't lie, you were very hard to notice. I never managed to see you, but I did manage to hear you." The guard put a finger to his ear. "I enhanced my hearing with magic, you see. I'm very thorough when it comes to trespassers like you. That's why I was made head guard."

Haerin rose from the chest, clutching the scabbard of Temujin's sword as hard as his heart pounded in his chest. He looked the head guard straight in the eye. "Is that so?"

"Indeed. No prisoner has escaped the wrath of the Golems here thanks to me."

"Perhaps," Haerin said shakily, "To thank you for your service to the Golems, I should send you straight to the Engineers' doorstep?" He gripped the cool metal of the hilt and began to draw out the blade clumsily, the curved, long sword screeching against the metal scabbard as it was roughly dragged against it. The guard laughed and drew nearer to Haerin, taking out a circular piece of metal etched with strange markings from within his breastplate; a magic circle, ready to be charged and release a powerful attack, infinitely stronger than any magic one could perform by hand.

"Are you trying to pick a fight with me? You don't look like any soldier at all, and you certainly can't use that sword let alone a magic circle. Drop the weapon, child. You can't fight against me."

Haerin slowly began to walk towards the guard as he tried to hold the heavy halfling weapon up, with its scabbard in his other hand. The guard laughed again, before holding up the circle and approaching his foe. "I'm giving you one more chance. This magic circle is called sunfire. The flames it summons causes burns that will overwhelm you with such torment that your vision will blacken, and it will never ease. It's can literally blind you through pain. You're holding a sword you can barely lift, let alone swing. So, are you still going to fight me?"

Haerin tried to point the curved blade at the guard without it falling. "Of course. In fact, my plan has already succeeded. I've already won."

The guard raised an eyebrow. "What plan? What ingenious idea could you possibly have to defeat someone who's ten times stronger than you in every way?"

"There's really only one thing I could do in this situation," Haerin replied calmly as he walked around the guard in what looked like a feeble attempt to be threatening.

"And that is?"

_My back's to the open doorway, idiot. What else **would** I do?_

Haerin grinned. "Run the hell away."

And with that, Haerin sprinted straight out of the chancery, clutching the sword and scabbard and leaving a bewildered guard behind him. He knew he didn't have much time until the other guards would find him, so he would have to get to Temujin as quickly as possible. There was only one thing he could do when he had at least fifty well-trained soldier-guards searching for him when he was now officially a criminal, and that was to grab Temujin and run as far away as he could, to Perechain.

* * *

Forgetting all notions of stealth, Haerin's footsteps rang loudly across the floors of the vast prison as he dashed towards Temujin's cell, sword in hand. His shallow breaths echoed through the winding, thin halls of the prison and tiny beads of sweat began to form on his forehead, and not before long, guards began to respond. Their voices began to boom around sharp, tight corners, demanding Haerin to halt, and at one point he even saw a pillar of shining sunfire erupt from just around the corner, barely licking his skin with bright, white embers. Eventually the painful torture came to a close, as Haerin almost laughed in relief when he saw Temujin lounging around in his jail cell.

Haerin suddenly thrust Temujin's sword through the bars of the jail cell, much to Temujin's surprise who hadn't even noticed Haerin.

"Cut through them," Haerin said, his voice raspy from the air being roughly dragged against his throat when he was running.

Temujin had a bewildered look on his face as he took the sword. "What are you-"

"Cut through the bars. We don't have time."

"If we don't have time, then why are we using the slowest method to get out of here possible? It would take me at least five minutes to cut through these."

"How else are we going to-" Haerin's eye's suddenly widened as an idea struck him like lightning. "Actually, you're right. It _would_ take far too long to cut through these. And hand magic would be too weak to cut through these, I'd need a magic circle. However..."

Just at that moment, the head guard dashed by the corner, locking his eyes onto Haerin with hatred boiling in them.

"THERE HE IS!" The head guard screamed. "I've found you, cowardly boy. Your type makes me sick, too scared and weak to fight straight on."

_Perfect timing._

"Well," Haerin replied calmly and softly, "I don't really think I'm the coward here, am I?"

"You ran away! I couldn't care less if you challenged me, or surrendered, but instead you chose to flee like a little bitch! Do you know how annoying it is to chase a rat down while you're trying to kill it?"

"But wouldn't the trained soldier who challenged a young unarmed civilian to a fight be the coward?"

"Why, you..."

The soldier ripped the sunfire magic circle out of his breastplate, his face contorted with rage as he did so. The magic circle began glowing as it was magical energy flowed through it, charging it up as it amplified it into the power of the sun. Its white light grew and grew, until it finally released it all in a powerful white pillar of flames, hurtling right towards Haerin.

_Looks like this guy really is an idiot._

Haerin quickly dodged out of the way of the deadly attack, causing it to hurtle right past him and instead hit what he was standing in front of: Temujin's cell bars. After barely an instant passed, the flames had eaten it's way right through the bars, leaving a smouldering, molten mess of the bars and a free halfling swordsman behind as the head guard watched in horror. Temujin rose from the ground of the cell, holding his sword in his left hand, and stepped right through. He grinned at Haerin.

"You're pretty smart, mate. I would've never thought of that." He pointed his sword at the head guard, now shaking in fear. "You beat him. Say something to your foe."

Haerin had no idea what to say, so he simply said what came to his head first. "Uh... fuck you, you're stupid."

Temujin gave Haerin a slightly disappointed look. "Really? You just completely outsmarted this enemy and you're just going to swing childish insults at him? To each his own, I suppose." Temujin drew closer to the head guard, raising his curved, long blade towards him. "Now then, I'm going to leave with my friend, Haerin here, and you won't stop us. Okay?"

The head guard shakily rose his sunfire circle again, and a glow began to sputter across it, but before he could release another fiery attack Temujin had already plunged his sword right through his neck, and the glow faded away as the guard went limp. Haerin felt sick as Temujin drew the sword away and the guard's body slumped over, the life within it long gone as blood spilled from the deep gash. Temujin sighed regretfully. "Your persistence is exemplary, but it ultimately led to your death. My apologies," he mumbled. He turned to Haerin. "Could you give me my scabbard?"

Haerin tried to forget what had just happened as he handed Temujin the scabbard he had been holding. Temujin muttered his thanks as he attached the scabbard to his hip and put the sword in it, the tip still wet with blood. Temujin turned to Haerin and his face went from solemn to anxious. "Haerin, are you feeling okay? You look a little pale after that."

"No... I'm just totally fine..." Haerin lied. In reality, he wanted to tear out his boiling, aching stomach, but he had to ignore it until they were safely out of the city. But despite this, Haerin still felt like his skull was made of air and his eyelids heavier than lead, and before he knew it he had...

_Crap. I'm blacking out._

* * *

Haerin's head felt like someone was plunging a sword right through it.

"Haerin, are you awake?"

The raspy voice sounded like it belonged to Temujin. Haerin rose from what felt like grass to find Temujin sitting next to him.

"I'm sorry about that. Seeing someone die like that for the first time can be pretty shocking."

"Hu...Huh? Wait, we were in the prison, right? Where are we-" Realisation dawned on Haerin. "Oh. _Oh._ "

Temujin grinned. "It was tricky, but I managed to dash us both out of the city."

Sure enough, the grand tall walls that kept the city safe from the Golems' holy wrath stood before them. They were right outside of the prison that had held Haerin for so long.

"I'm actually glad you've come around so quickly. They might send someone to search for us."

Haerin rose to his feet. "Yeah, you're right. We should get going. Perechain is north of here, it's past noon and the sun is over there, so..." Haerin pointed towards a large, open rolling field. "That way."

Temujin looked towards where Haerin was pointing. "I've never gone in that direction before. Do you know what there is over there?"

"No clue. We're about to find out."


End file.
